More than 800 people released from prison on parole with certain curfews will have them removed, after the Parole Board deemed them unlawful.
In a memo sent by the Parole Board, seen by Stuff, dated September 30, Sir Ron Young says affected registered victims will be told. The exact number of victims is not yet known.
Victims advocate Ruth Money said this would be triggering for victims.
“Curfews are part of the toolbox or kete that the Parole Board use to keep the community and importantly victims safe.
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“Safety is both physical and mental protection, so this change will cause high levels of distress for not only the victims of these 800 offenders, but more broadly many victims who are understandably triggered by the risk,” Money said.
In the memo, Young said the Board had reached the conclusion that a curfew that simply required an offender to be at a particular residence between particular hours by was not authorised by the Parole Act.
The only curfews that were authorised were those under section 33-35 of the Parole Act.
Sir Ron Young said would be notified.
The focus in both sections in imposing such release conditions was in reducing risk, promoting rehabilitation and reintegration and providing for the reasonable concerns of victims.
The memo stated there were over 800 people who were currently subject to simple curfews and the Board was now working with Corrections and lawyers to identify those affected.
The Parole Board’s decision comes on the back of the Supreme Court ruling in 2020 which found a former prisoner was illegally restricted after being released from prison.
Defence lawyer Emma Priest who is a convener of the ADLS Parole Law Committee and a senior criminal barrister at Blackstone Chambers, said there had been a real shift recently in reconsidering how the law operates from a human rights perspective.
DAVID WHITE/STUFF
Criminal defence lawyer Emma Priest said those affected should get in contact with their lawyers.
Priest said the Board, of its own motion, had recognised that the imposition of simple curfews was unlawful.
“It is important that anyone who is on parole and subject to a curfew contact their lawyers to ensure that their curfew is removed,” Priest said.
She said the Board had recognised that imposing a simple curfew was arbitrary detention under the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act.
A Parole Board spokesperson said the board was holding urgent hearings to discharge those who had simple curfew conditions.
“From an initial list of 870 offenders...over a third of the cases have already been resolved due to the sentence, or the curfew condition itself, expiring.”
Victims’ advocate Ruth Money said safety is both physical and mental protection.
The Board has so far discharged 42 offenders from the condition, with more hearings scheduled.
“From now on the Parole Board will consider, where appropriate based on an assessment of risk, imposing residential restrictions, which are a type of curfew either with or without electronic monitoring,” the spokesperson said.
Corrections’ chief probation officer Darius Fagan said public safety was its top priority.
Fagan said many who were subject to stand-alone curfew conditions were considered lower-risk and not likely to meet the full residential restrictions.
Convicted murderer and former prisoner Dr Paul Wood returns to prison to tell those inside they can, like him, turn their lives around (Video first published in 2020).
“But our highly experienced Community Corrections staff will continue to be able to safely manage these people through ensuring their compliance with their other conditions,” Fagan said.
Stand-alone curfews are typically imposed as one of a significant number of special conditions, in addition to 11 standard conditions, and are not electronically monitored.
Money queried what extra support was being offered to victims who now have an additional Parole hearing to emotionally navigate.
“From a survivor’s perspective we’d expect that the simple curfews are all converted to residential curfews.
“At the end of the day a curfew is a curfew, and if the parole board implemented a curfew previously, it is a fair and reasonable expectation that it will remain moving forward.”